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Entries with the tag: bob nicholson

(April 20, 2015) EDMONTON – Daryl Katz, Chairman of Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG) announced today Bob Nicholson has been appointed Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Nicholson, who joined the organization as Vice-Chair in June of 2014, will take over an expanded set of responsibilities within OEG that includes authority over all aspects of business and hockey operations for the Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club. Mr. Nicholson will continue to serve as an Alternate Governor for the Edmonton Oilers on the NHL Board of Governors.

“Since joining OEG, Bob has devoted his time to assessing all aspects of the organization,” said Mr. Katz. “Going forward, he will have clear responsibility for OEG’s growing sports and entertainment business, and all the support and latitude he needs from me to lead the Oilers back to being a Stanley Cup contender. Bob is the ideal person to lead the organization forward. He is a bold thinker, a strong consensus builder and a very fine individual.”

“We can’t start to just tear everything down, we have to get a solid plan as we go forward here of how we can get this team to win a Stanley Cup. We’re a long ways from that where our record is today — we all realize that — we just can’t panic here and make major changes unless they’re going to help us in the future.”

-Bob Nicholson,viice-chairman of the Oilers Entertainment Group on Prime Time Sports this evening. More from Mike Johnston of Sportsnet and you can listen/watch the whole interview too.

June 13, 2014) EDMONTON - Katz Group announced today that Bob Nicholson will join the organization as Vice-Chairman of Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG), a new sports and entertainment company that will manage the Katz Group's growing family of sports and entertainment assets, and operate Rogers Place, the new home of the Edmonton Oilers.

Bob Nicholson, the longtime president and CEO of Hockey Canada is stepping down effective June 1.

Nicholson informed his staff and the Hockey Canada board of his decision today after several days of contemplating his future.

With long-term sponsorship and television agreements in place and Hockey Canada believed to be both structurally and financially strong, the timing of Nicholson's decision, following Olympic Gold in mens and womens hockey in Sochi, makes sense.

Nicholson is expected to maintain his position as vice president of the IIHF and his departure from Hockey Canada will also likely spark speculation of potential NHL interest.

It's believed Hockey Canada will conduct a search as part of the process to replace Nicholson, however, Hockey Canada C.O.O, Scott Smith is considered the frontrunner for the job.

The issue of contract insurance for NHL players participating in Olympic orientation camps is such a problem in terms of cost that Sport-Express's Andrei Kuznetsov reports that even the Russians aren't skating today or tomorrow in Sochi, but ahead of the Canadian Olympic orientation camp in Calgary from Sunday the 25th to Wednesday the 28th (and the U.S. camp in Arlington, VA on the 26th and 27th), and as you might expect, Hockey Canada's takng some press flak for not being able to scrounge together the funds to be the only hockey federation that managed to get its orientation campers on the ice (the Swedes, Finns, Czechs, Slovaks, Swiss, etc. did not skate).

For all the right reasons, Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson has suggested the NHL make its annual entry draft a harvest of 19-year-old talents, not 18-year-olds.

There’s little doubt that sort of change would rationalize the entire hockey system, permitting midget teams to hold onto their best players for another year, allowing young talents one more year to polish their games in major junior, letting all sorts of European players remain home for another season in their formative years.

Nicholson is serious about plumping for this change, so much so he prepared a nine-page position paper on it and sent it to NHL headquarters.

“For the most part, 18-and 19-year-old players are not close to being ready for the NHL. If the draft goes back a year, it slows down the process at every level,” Nicholson told Eric Francis of Sun Media. “Right now, everyone is on a treadmill to get there.”